Lincoln Museum to feature Two Centuries of Campaigns and Candidates’

Quick catchphrases, glib sloganeering, avoidance of issues, slick and clever campaigns — they’re not just signposts of modern presidential paraphernalia. Just look at some Abraham Lincoln ads.

Nick Rogers

Quick catchphrases, glib sloganeering, avoidance of issues, slick and clever campaigns — they’re not just signposts of modern presidential paraphernalia. Just look at some Abraham Lincoln ads.
“They had to get images out there that didn’t make him look so damn homely,” says Frederick Voss, co-curator of “Packaging Presidents: Two Centuries of Campaigns and Candidates,” an exhibit opening at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. “They had to make him look better than he actually is, and they came up with some prints that did.”
Diversionary tactics aside, Voss sees the texture of American society woven into 200 years of silk banners, stamped buttons and even plastic-wrapped cigarette boxes meant to promote presidential politicking.
“A primary example of this is the wonderful Polk-Dallas silk banner from 1844 that’s all hand-embroidered,” Voss says. “Just think of the commitment, the work that went into the creation of this thing that was going to be used at, what, two or maybe three demonstrations. To me, that speaks volumes about what presidential elections meant to the electorate at that time.”
Working with Rick Beard, executive director of the museum and library, Voss cultivated more than 350 original presidential-campaign artifacts from the early 1800s to the present. From 1971 until his retirement in 2004, Voss was chief historian for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Opening on “Super Tuesday” and running through Election Day, the exhibit largely is drawn from the private collection of Merrill Berman, of Scarsdale, N.Y. with a smattering of pieces from the library’s vault.
“Merrill is interested in American history, so he does see these things as tokens of our past and of our political past,” Voss says. “But equally, if not more, impelling for him are the graphic aspects. He puts a good deal of emphasis on design in his collecting and condition.”
Voss acknowledges that visually, there’s a sort of “unpremeditated graphic charm” to older pieces, and that modern-day yard signs and billboards might lack a similar pictorial punch.
Alongside more familiar propaganda with slogans such as “I like Ike (for Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1952 presidential bid) or “I’m just wild about Harry” (for Harry S. Truman’s 1948 pursuit of office) are lesser-known pins, handbills and antagonistic rants on family values and religious beliefs.
History-book parties such as the Know-Nothings, Greenbacks and Progressives are included, along with more modern independent candidates such as Ross Perot. Should you feel time hasn’t been kind to your favorite commander-in-chief, his name might be among the 12 options for best President of all time from which visitors can vote for their favorite.
TV hasn’t been forgotten — from Lyndon B. Johnson’s infamous “Daisy” ad to viewing the historic 1960 John F. Kennedy-Richard Nixon debates through a camera used by Chicago station WBBM to cover them.
“If you really think about how these things were created and used, and then contextualize them a bit in your imagination, they’re really quite wonderful,” Voss says. “They do help to bring things to life.”
Nick Rogers can be reached at nick.rogers@sj-r.com. Read his blog at blogs.sj-r.com/unpaintedhuffhines.
“Packaging Presidents: Two Centuries of Campaigns and Candidates”
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Nov. 4
WHERE: Illinois Gallery, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, 112 N. Sixth St., Springfield, Ill.
ADMISSION: $7.50 for adults, $5.50 for seniors 62 and older, military members and students, $3.50 for children 5-15 and free for children younger than 5